


Lucky Stone

by justhuman



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Stakeout, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Yuletide, Yuletide 2010
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-20
Updated: 2010-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-13 21:48:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/142058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justhuman/pseuds/justhuman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nathan and Audrey go on a stakeout. If you know Haven, you know it won't be in a SUV with coffee and donuts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lucky Stone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CyberMathWitch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyberMathWitch/gifts).



**Lucky Stone**

Nathan couldn't help the smile on his face as he scrambled over the boulder, avoiding the drying seaweed. Heat, cold, softness, roughness, texture, pain - those were all sensations that he had lost, but it would be inaccurate to say that he lost everything. Whether it was the correct word or not, he felt pressure, which was good, because otherwise he’d never know if he had picked up a glass or he was holding the steering wheel. Currently the heavy soles of his hiking boots reduced his already limited feedback from his feet, making it seem like he was walking on air. It was one of the rare occasions where his trouble had given him gift.

"Are you part mountain goat?" Audrey shouted from behind him.

Smiling a little broader at her distress, Nathan turned around and saw Audrey struggling over boulder field that made up what passed for a beach, below the cliffs. "I'm a Capricorn."

For a moment she gave him the _you have to be kidding me_ face. "So you're Capricorn, the sea-goat? You know that I'm a Virgo-"

"I know."

"But I'm not-"

"I know," Nathan said. He worked his way back to where she was balancing on a rock, trying to figure out where to go next.

"So every kid in Haven really comes out here?" Audrey asked.

"What do they call it - a rite of passage? Cub Scouts and the Girl Scouts hike across the boulder field at low tide, because at high tide, all this is under water. Then they camp in MacKinnon's Sea Cave over night."

"Together?" asked Audrey.

"Nah, they wait until high school to do that. They usually forget to figure that they'll be gone for over eight hours, waiting for the tide. Sometimes it causes issues with parents," Nathan said, putting a hair of emphasis on _sometimes_. Audrey was local enough to catch his real meaning.

"Is that the voice of experience?" she laughed.

"Maybe," Nathan said.

"Well, all right, my non-committal, sea-goat, what am I doing wrong?" Audrey waved her hands at the rocks in frustration.

"You're hesitating, thinking about it too much."

She pointed at him. "It seems to me that breaking my neck would be a bad thing."

"I thought that when I was eight."

Nathan watched the demeanor of the professional investigator slide on her face. "That was the year you lost feeling. I'd have thought it might make you careless."

"Not when you're being lectured constantly about watching your step and inspecting your toes."

"What?"

"I don't notice when I get hurt, so I have to check periodically to make sure I'm not missing any parts."

Audrey looked like she wanted to say something, but instead she just nodded. "So you were too cautious, thinking too much, like I am."

Nathan nodded. "Took me three times as long as the other kids to get to the cave."

"So what changed?"

"I found a lucky stone."

"Nathan! I'm not eight years old, and you're not going to hand me some random rock and tell me it's going to protect me."

With the shake of his head, Nathan started looking on the ground, kicking at the small rocks. "Didn't say it worked that way, and it's not a random rock." He reached down and picked up a stone polished long, flat, and thin by the constant pounding of the sea. "It's one like this."

"It has a hole in it."

"Yup."

There was a quarter inch hole through one end of the stone, like a jeweler had drilled it for a chain. He let Audrey take it. She looked down at the ground from the top of the rock she was standing on. After a couple of false starts as she tried to figure out how to get down, Nathan held out his hand. When Audrey took it, it was like life coursed through Nathan's entire body. Her fingers burned his, reminding him that he did know what warmth felt like. He kept his face schooled into blankness, trying not to give it away, but it was like the world had gone from black-and-white Kansas to the Technicolor of Oz.

It faded back just as quickly when Audrey sat down and pulled her fingers back, inspecting the stone. "It has a hole in it. How'd that happen?"

"It's lucky," Nathan said.

"You're funny, you know that, right?" She said it in tone that left no doubt that Nathan was anything but funny. Nathan loved her more for the jab than he ever would have for a compliment.

Audrey turned the stone over again, frowning at it. "I mean, there must be some natural reason - oh, strike that. I forgot which town I was talking about."

"Jess, she called them shaman's stones."

Audrey looked at him in an appraising manner. Nathan thought he stood up to it well.

"Was she making it up, like the Wikipedia symbol?"

Nathan shrugged. "People around here have always thought they were special, so I figure the Metis probably did too."

"So, now that I have a lucky stone, I'll have an easy walk to the cave?"

"Oh, you've got to find one on your own. I'm the lucky one today." Nathan plucked the stone from her hand, allowing their fingers to brush. The more he touched Audrey, the more he wanted to do it again and again.

"Hey! I thought that was a gift," Audrey said, shouldering her pack.

"Oh, you can have it, but the luck comes from somewhere else," Nathan said as he turned to lead the way. "Don't worry, though, I'll slow down enough for you to keep looking."

"O-kay, are they easy to spot?"

"Sure, when we were kids, we used to bring them back all the time. Of course only about half the group found them, so you might be out of luck."

"Gee, I'm feeling better about this hike by the minute."

Turning around, Nathan walked back to Audrey. "There's that saying about journeys being more important than destinations. If you're looking for a rock, you won't be worried about falling."

"Ah," Audrey said. "You're a psychologist."

"Nah, Mr. Fingal, my scoutmaster, was."

"So he got you to look for the rock and you slowed down. When you found the rock, you turned into a sea-goat."

"Not exactly. I was getting picked on for being slow when I finally got to the cave, until I showed them my rock and then they all slowed down on the way back, looking for their own. Gave me the time to figure out how to walk again." Nathan turned toward the sea, because sometimes the sympathy on Audrey's face bordered on pity.

He kicked a stone, looking at he feet. "You should treat it like firing your gun, Audrey. The rocks are just another part of you."

When he finally looked at her, Audrey shoved him in the shoulder. It was through his clothes, so not as intense as the touch of her hand against his, but it lingered. "Nathan Wournos, if you're working your way up to saying I've got rocks in my head, you're a dead man."

Nathan just smiled at her, really too caught up in the fading sense of feeling to answer.

Audrey stepped past him and started walking, just a little bit more confidently. "You'll tell me if I'm going the wrong way, right?"

Nathan adjusted his pack and walked behind her. "You'll know when your feet get wet."

***

Nathan and Audrey stopped at the opening of the sea cave. It had a narrow opening that towered three stories into the sheer cliff wall. On either side, were piles of boulders overlooking the sea.

"Wow, it's impressive," Audrey said, in the fakest tone Nathan had ever heard. "Can we go home now?"

"We haven't actually investigated the thing the chief wanted us to," Nathan said.

"Ah, come on. After taking that stroll down the beach," Audrey let the sarcasm loose. "I have a hard time believing that modern day pirates, would put the effort into this place. There's got to be easier ways to smuggle. We should go back and ask Duke.

Now she was becoming unkind, bring up Duke on their big adventure, but Nathan stepped above it. He pointed at the small inlet in front of the cave and kept his tone neutral. "As the tide comes up, you can row a dingy in there, if you're brave. MacKinnnon's Cave was used from the Revolutionary War through Prohibition to avoid the lawman and the taxman."

"Why'd it stop at Prohibition?"

"It's hard to smuggle when you keep running into eight-year olds singing campfire songs," Nathan said.

"Haven used the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to scare away organized crime? Unbelievable." Audrey shook her head. "Hey, I ran into Dave and Vince and told them we were coming out here. Vince said the French name for the cave was, well it was something like la fondue."

"La Fente Joyeuse," Nathan said, holding back a smile.

"They wouldn't tell me what it meant." Audrey eyed him suspiciously. Maybe he hadn't hid that smile as much as he thought.

"The Micmac name translates as _womb of the earth_."

"And that's what the French name means too?"

"Not exactly. The Frenchmen arrived in North America by the boatload, but the French women came later. The trappers and explorers weren't as concerned about where babies came from as much as their next opportunity to try and make them."

"Fente Joyeuse," Audrey prompted.

"Joyeuse is joyous," Nathan said as he headed toward the cave entrance.

"I kinda figured that one out on my own," Audrey said. "And the other word?"

Nathan turned toward the cave. If she was going to push… "Well, if the womb is inside, that makes the opening-"

"Okay!" Audrey said with the sound of sudden understanding, like a light bulb had gone off over her head. Nathan would have teased her about it, but she had placed her hand on his shoulder, and there was a different kind of light going through him.

She took her hand away and coughed into it, much to Nathan's disappointment. Audrey kicked at an empty plastic bottle. "Someone's been littering around here."

"Not here, somewhere else. This is what the tide brought in."

The entrance to the cave was dimly lit by the afternoon light. Nathan took off his pack and pulled out a flashlight, shining it around the interior.

"Wow," Audrey had found her own flashlight and was admiring the work of the sea.

"Worth the walk?"

"Maybe," Audrey said and pointed her flashlight toward the left, where a natural ramp seemed to go deeper into the cave. "How far back does it go?"

"Three-hundred forty-six feet. It's the 80th longest sea cave in the world."

"Someone spent some time on Wikipedia."

"Come on, we have to go to the back of the cave to see what O'Reilly found." Nathan headed toward the ramp and left his pack near the base. Audrey followed his lead. They moved side by side in silence, ducking under low rock hangings and moving in single file where the passage narrowed. Then the passage opened into another chamber, not nearly as grand as the cave opening, but impressive after the narrow path they had taken. Off to one side was flat round stone, the size of a bed, littered with small items.

Audrey moved toward it. "String, popsicle sticks, glitter?"

"They call it the Wishing Stone, at least for the kids. There are stories that both the French and the Indians used it as an altar. The scouts make a craft and leave it so the stone will grant their wish. In the spring, the park commission comes and gathers everything up. They put them in coals for the first clam bake."

"That sounds a little pagan, how does the Rev feel about that?"

"Oh, I don't think that I have to tell you that," Nathan said. "Most kids from his church leave something anyway. But these aren't the objects we came to look at." Nathan moved to the back of the chamber and scanned the back wall until he found the opening heading down.

"Look at that, pieces of a crate. Why did O'Reilly think this is important?" Audrey asked.

"Middle of September. It's getting cold and most people are done camping out here for the season. He thinks someone is taking advantage of the privacy," Nathan said. He put his flashlight on a rock and went down on his belly. He was a lot thinner than O'Reilly, but the opening would be a little claustrophobic for most adults. He grabbed the section of crate and worked his way back out, sitting with his back to the rock wall.

"Does that passage lead anywhere?" Audrey asked.

"I haven't tried it, but they say it leads to another sea cave about a quarter of a mile from here. It half-collapsed during an earthquake in '83."

"During the last round of Troubles," Audrey said. "So how do we know that this crate hasn't been here since prohibition?"

Nathan pointed at a partial shipping label.

Audrey read it out loud, "January 2010. I guess it's not from Prohibition."

"The kids would have found it over the summer, if it had been here," Nathan said, standing up. "That's why we're here."

"All right, I accept that, but are we going to have to stake out this cave for a month?"

"There's no moon tonight. We've had officers out here the previous three nights and we've got another set of officers lined up for the next three. It's the most likely time, under the cover of darkness."

"So," Audrey said, tuning around and viewing the cave. "What do we do while we're waiting for the pirates?"

"We could sing campfire songs."

"And if we didn't want to do that?" Audrey asked.

"Enjoy the natural wonders," Nathan said, moving next to Audrey. "Let me see your flashlight."

"What's wrong with your flashlight?"

Nathan wiggled his fingers, indicating that she should just hand it over. Audrey looked at him for a long moment and then gave in. Nathan turned both flashlights off.

"You know, that's not fair. Also, I am not sixteen and going to panic and start looking for a big strong man to protect me," Audrey said.

"But you're afraid of the dark," Nathan said.

"I am not afraid of the dark!"

"You're afraid to be quiet in the dark."

"I-"

Nathan could hear the rustle of her clothing.

"I can be quiet for a minute."

Nathan closed his eyes. It was unnecessary, because the cave was pitch black, not even the smallest amount of light seeping up the narrow passage from the cave mouth. The air was completely still, not even a whiff of a breeze. The silence was heavy; the sound of the waves had been stopped somewhere back with the light.

It might have been a full minute, or then again, it might have been ten. Maybe it was only thirty seconds, when Audrey spoke. "Is this what it's like, not to have feeling? Do you feel lost in your own skin?"

Of all the things she might have said, Nathan would have never guessed that. "Sometimes," Nathan said, finally. He took a step forward and slowly reached out his hand until he found Audrey. The girl he had taken up to the cave at 17 had screamed in terror when he had touched her like that in the dark. Audrey just moved her hands slowly down his arm until she found his hand and held it for a moment. No sight, no sound, just Audrey's touch becoming the center of his universe.

It was wrong to love her just because he could feel her. Nathan was ninety-eight percent sure he'd have been attracted to her if touch wasn't issue, but he couldn't be sure. Reluctantly, he put her flashlight back in her fingers. When they let go, he put his flashlight under his chin and clicked it on.

"Woo-ooo ah wooo"

Audrey laughed and turned her flashlight on. "You are such a goofball, but I bet that was fun when you had a dozen eight-year olds up here."

"It was," Nathan said and made his way back down the passage to the main cave.

"So what next, roasting marshmallows?"

"Many have tried, but a campfire in here is a bad idea. The sea breeze just pushes all the smoke back into the cave."

"So what are we eating?" Audrey asked.

"What did you pack?" Nathan responded.

"Pack? I didn't pack. The Chief handed me the pack and told me to stuff a dry pair of socks in it. He said that I would have everything I'd needed."

Nathan laughed at her. "So you're having Spam."

"Nooo! Oh, just- Why did I trust him?" Audrey said, tearing into her pack "Sleeping bag, tarp thing-"

"Ground cloth, to keep the wet out of your sleeping bag."

"Gotcha. Bottled water, matches, rain poncho, first aid kit, a combination shovel and pick ax, some equipment that I can't immediately identify, a plastic bag full of-" Audrey laughed. "Popsicle sticks, string and crayon. Does the Chief make a lot of wishes?"

"No comment, but the Chief comes out sometimes with the scouts as and extra chaperone," Nathan said.

Audrey was still digging in her pack. "Let's see. Here we got canned luncheon meat, aka Spam, and an MRE that claims to be -"

"Corned beef hash," Nathan said as he lit the lantern that had been his pack.

"Are you sure you didn't pack this?"

"Are you thinking there's ever any variation in the Chief's pack?"

"Okay, that's a point," Audrey said, juggling the can of Spam in her fingers. "What are you eating, pancakes?"

"For breakfast tomorrow," Nathan said. He held up a bottle of instant mix. "Just add water and shake."

"Did you bring maple syrup?"

Nathan just gave her a scathing look.

"Of course you did," Audrey said. "Wait, if we can't have a campfire, how are you going to cook them?"

From the pile in front of Audrey, Nathan picked up the 'unrecognizable equipment.' "Camp stove and a chaffing dish warmer."

"Nifty. So that bottle looks it makes a lot of pancakes."

"I like pancakes," Nathan said. "A lot."

"Yeah, you do," Audrey said dejectedly.

"They'll be good to share tomorrow with the Spam." Nathan wasn't willing to let her frown too long. "In the meantime, I have two sandwiches from Sammy's."

"Sammy makes good grinders," Audrey said and then added hopefully, "Did you say, two?"

"Ham, Swiss and turkey-"

"Your favorite, light on the mayo with crunchy lettuce."

"And chicken breast with Brie and roasted red peppers, your favorite." Nathan handed her the sandwich.

Audrey made some kind of sighing, squeaking noise that made Nathan smile. "Have I told you lately that you're the best partner ever?"

"Aren't I the only partner you've had?"

"That's only because I was waiting for the perfect one," Audrey insisted, taking a bite of her sandwich.

It was a fine thing to say, but Nathan wished for more. "Come on, let's eat on the rocks and watch the tide roll in. You should bring your sleeping bag."

"Yeah, it'll be getting cold," Audrey said.

Nathan supposed it would be, but he hadn't thought of that. "That, and I bet that sleeping bag needs airing out." He took the sandwiches and grabbed two bottles of water, as Audrey did a sniff test on the sleeping bag.

"Ugh, cigarette smoke."

"Let's air it out, but if it's too much, you can take mine."

"I couldn't do that to you. I know how much it drives you crazy."

Nathan shrugged. "But I'm used to it."

They climbed the rocks in the fading sun, and Audrey spread the sleeping bag like a picnic blanket. Nathan relaxed with his back against a rock, enjoying the scenery and the company. For a while, they accepted the sound of the waves and the smell of the sea over human conversation.

Audrey put down her sandwich and said, "It's nice out here, really nice."

"Told you it was nice."

"Yeah, you did." Audrey pulled from her pocket the baggie full of craft supplies.

It surprised Nathan for a moment, but then it didn't surprise him at all, because this was Audrey. She might like to remind them that she was from somewhere else, but somehow it was like she had always been there. "Are you going to make a wish?"

"I was thinking about it. Every kid in town since Prohibition has made a wish," Audrey said. "Although, I don't think I know how."

Nathan turned on his side, so he could face her. "There aren't any rules. You're just supposed to think about your wish and let those things turn into primitive art."

"I don't know." Audrey shook her head.

Instinctively, Nathan reached out his hand and took hers, accepting the life force from her. "You're thinking too much."

"I am, aren't I? Too bad I didn't find one of those lucky stones. One of them would have gone nice."

Reluctantly letting go, Nathan reached into his pocket and held out the long, flat stone. "Take it."

"It's not lucky if I didn't find it."

"Wishing's a whole other thing," Nathan said. "Besides, the tide's in and you can't look for another one until it goes back out again in the morning.

Audrey smiled and put her fingers on the opposite side of the stone, making Nathan gasp. It was like an electric charge had run between them. Feeling her through his clothes made some kind of sense, but to feel her through the stone was some kind of wonder. Maybe it was lucky.

"Are you okay?" Audrey asked.

"Yeah, the wind just caught me funny," Nathan lied.

"So I just think about my wish?"

"That's the easiest thing," Nathan said. "If you check in with everyone in town, they've got their own rituals and superstitions. Some people always leave food and others leave a lock of hair. Whatever feels right." Nathan didn't ask her, but he knew she was going to wish to find her mother, and he wished her well.

"Are you coming in?" Audrey said as she stood up.

"I think I'll stay out here a while and air the sleeping bag out some more. The best part of the show hasn't started yet."

"There's no moon tonight and the sun's setting behind the cliff. Next show will be at sunrise," Audrey said.

Nathan shook his head. "You spent too much time in the big city. Come out when you're done. Oh, and bring out dessert."

"Dessert? What kind of dessert?" Audrey asked pretending not to be excited.

"The kind that comes from Rosemary's. It's in my pack."

"Nathan Wournos, you really were a boy scout, weren't you?"

Nathan folded his arms over his chest like the answer was obvious.

Audrey was gone for a while, so long that Nathan almost got up to go find her, make sure she hadn't lost here flashlight and was stuck in the dark. The sun had set and the bowl of the sky was brimming with stars. When one of them arced across the sky, Nathan made his own wish to know for sure what he should do about his feelings for Audrey. When the second one shot across the sky, he forgot the first wish, and simply asked that she not hate him on the day he lost his mind and did something stupid.

"Oh my god," Audrey said.

Startled, Nathan turned to her, putting his hand on his weapon. His eyes were accustomed to the dark and there was just enough natural light to make out Audrey's figure as she was gasping in wonder at the night sky. Suddenly he wanted to do nothing but show her the wonders of the world, just to see that pleasure in her face forever.

"Nathan, you didn't say it was this beautiful!"

He had, but he didn't correct her.

Audrey scrambled up the rocks, like she didn't care about injuring herself. She handed him the box of cupcakes and dropped a second sleeping bag next to him. "I hope you don't mind, but I brought your sleeping bag. I figured it was getting cold enough that we needed something over us." She took another step up, moving to the next ledge. There, like the she was the queen of all she surveyed, Audrey held her arms out wide and shouted, "This is amazing!"

Just as quickly, she climbed gently off the rock and sat down next to him. Nathan didn't say anything, but accepted the blanket as she opened it, if only because he would be under it with Audrey. Their hands brushed over one another and it felt like the contact burned like the fire of a thousand suns. Nathan only wanted more.

"Nathan, you're cold."

"I don't feel cold."

"We've already established that. I'm telling you that you are _cold_. You're hands are freezing. Here-" Audrey took his hand between both of hers and rubbed it hard and then she repeated it with the other.

Nathan was beside himself, feeling completely alive and wanting more. Throwing all caution to the sea wind, he leaned forward to kiss her, just as Audrey turned away.

"Hey, look what I found up on that rock." She turned back and clicked on her flashlight.

Nathan thought it was good thing that the light was aimed at the apple sized stone in the palm of her hand and not his face. Maybe the stars were giving him a chance to not look stupid. As he gathered himself back together, he looked at Audrey's rock. It wasn't polished flat and smooth like the rock that Nathan had found. Instead it was a maze of interconnected tunnels - a honeycomb in the rock.

"What do you think it means?" Audrey asked

Nathan frowned. "Jess told me that the Native Americans believed that shamans found these stones because they could look into the other world through the hole."

"There are a lot of holes, a lot of paths in here. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that," Audrey said, turning the stone around n her hand.

Nathan nodded. "I bet it's really lucky though."

"Yeah," Audrey laughed. "I'm with the best partner I've ever had with the best cupcakes in Haven, on one of the most beautiful spots on earth. No one has ever had a stakeout this good."

Nathan shook his head, pushing all those feelings down again. "I bet you wished for pirates in there."

She grinned. "How'd you guess?"

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to my great beta, Sorrel, that came through for me at the last possible moment.


End file.
